FIG. 5 depicts a background art technique suggested to connect vehicle-mounted camera equipment to other control equipment and a power supply.
As depicted in FIG. 5, vehicle-mounted camera equipment 1 has a structure in which a substrate 2 having an imaging element mounted thereon and a power supply circuit, a signal-processing circuit and the like formed thereon is housed in a case-shaped housing body 3 of two-part divided structure. The vehicle-mounted camera equipment 1 is connected to other control equipment, a power supply and the like via an equipment harness 4 and a vehicle-side harness 5.
The vehicle-side harness 5 has one end connected to other control equipment, a power supply and the like, and the other end connected to a harness-side connecting connector 6. This vehicle-side harness 5 typically consists of a group of wires 5a having a relatively large diameter (e.g. a cross-sectional area of 0.75 mm2).
The equipment harness 4 has one end connected to an equipment-side connected connector 7, and becomes connected to the vehicle-side harness 5 via connector connection between this equipment-side connected connector 7 and the harness-side connecting connector 6. The equipment harness 4 has the other end connected to a substrate connecting connector 8, and becomes connected to the substrate 2 via connector connection between this connecting connector 8 and a substrate connector 9 provided on the substrate 2.
The equipment harness 4 includes a first equipment harness portion 10 which consists of a group of wires 10a having a relatively large diameter (e.g. a cross-sectional area of 0.75 mm2) on the side of the vehicle-side harness 5, and a second equipment harness portion 11 which consists of a group of wires 11a having a relatively small diameter (e.g. a cross-sectional area of 0.15 mm2) on the side of the substrate 2, which are connected via a connecting portion 12.
The equipment harness 4 includes the first equipment harness portion 10 and the second equipment harness portion 11 for reasons indicated below.
That is, as the substrate connector 9 provided on the substrate 2 is extremely small, the substrate connecting connector 8 connector-connected thereto needs to be small accordingly. This requires wires connected to connector terminals of the substrate connecting connector 8 to have a relatively small diameter as well. Thus, the equipment harness 4 needs to use the second equipment harness portion 11 which consists of the group of wires 11a having a relatively small diameter on the side of the substrate 2.
Meanwhile, as the vehicle-side harness 5 attached to the side of a vehicle consists of the group of wires 5a having a relatively large diameter due to the desire for flexibility resistance, the harness-side connecting connector 6 connected to the end of the vehicle-side harness 5 needs to be large accordingly. This requires the equipment-side connected connector 7 connector-connected to the harness-side connecting connector 6 to be large as well, and further requires wires connected to connector terminals of this large equipment-side connected connector 7 to have a relatively large diameter as well. Thus, the equipment harness 4 needs to use the first equipment harness portion 10 which consists of the group of wires 10a having a relatively large diameter on the side of the vehicle-side harness 5.
For these reasons, the equipment harness 4 includes the first equipment harness portion 10 and the second equipment harness portion 11.
In addition, the connecting portion 12, which is provided outside the housing body 3, needs to be subjected to waterproof treatment. To subject a connecting portion of wires to waterproof treatment, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-359017 discloses an exemplary technique of covering the connecting portion of wires with a heat shrinkable tube and sealing its surroundings with epoxy type resin and the like.
Also in this background art technique, the substrate connecting connector 8 is connected to the substrate connector 9 on the side of the substrate 2, and the equipment harness 4 is drawn out of the housing body 3 through a drawing hole formed in the housing body 3. At a portion of this drawing hole, a grommet 13 made of rubber and the like is interposed between the periphery of the drawing hole and the equipment harness 4 to prevent water from entering the housing body 3. Further, the harness-side connecting connector 6 and the equipment-side connected connector 7 are connector-connected outside the housing body 3, to connect the equipment harness 4 and the vehicle-side harness 5.